Missing Home
by EowynAhsokaLover
Summary: Shy...not exactly, but yes, generally. But as long as Varvara is acting as someone else, she can do...more. But when the Russian girl moves to Japan because of attacks on her family, will she be able to trick everyone into believing nothing is wrong.Enjoy
1. Chapter 1

**A/n: Enjoy! I'll say more at end. Please read...yeah.**

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><p>"Um...so what did you want to show me here in a music room?" I asked, pulling at the other girl's sleeve.<p>

"It isn't a music room." My friend smiled widely. "Or at least not a normal one." She opened the nondescript doors. Rose petals flew by us, miraculously avoiding landing on our faces. I followed their arc down to hallway's floor, wondering who would clean up the accumulated petals, before my friend dragged me into the room.

"Welcome ladies." Instantly, a blond boy, dressed for whatever reason as a pirate, was kneeling before us. My friend gasped excitedly when he tilted her chin up. "I'm so pleased to see you again, Princess Rio. And you..." he tilted my chin in turn. I looked down, fluttering my eyelashes. Pretending to be a shy, enamored girl, which was obviously the part I was supposed to play, was easy, especially as I was already shy. "I don't remember seeing you here before, my princess. May I ask your name?"

"...I'm Demidova Varvara." I answered quietly, watching his brow crease slightly, probably by the foreign name.

Suddenly, another boy was there, also dressed as a pirate, though he had black hair and glasses, and he was holding a clipboard. "She's the daughter of Rufinus Demidova; he's the patriarch of an old family in Russia. They dabble in many kinds of business, but they're mainly horse breeders, and very hands on I hear. She's been the star in a number of plays. She started here yesterday. Her family has moved here from Russia because of increasing threats."

My friend had gone into another lapse of ecstasy at seeing this new boy and probably hadn't heard anything of what he had just said. I did have to admit that they were...eye candy, but despite they're appearance, I had registered what the boy in glasses had said. I didn't understand how he would know what he did, especially our motives for moving here; while they weren't exactly private, one wouldn't know unless they bothered to find out. And why he would use the energy to find out, especially as we had never met, I didn't know.

"Ah, well, my Russian beauty, I welcome you to the Host Club." The blonde boy stood to my side, presenting the rest of the room with an outstretched arm. "Here at Ouran Host Club we have the Strong and Silent type, the Loli-Shota type, the Little Devil type, the Cool type, the Natural Rookie, and me, the Prince Charming type..." He continued talking. Part of me listened while I examined the room: the tallest boy in the room hovering over the smallest, who didn't even look like he belonged in high school, who was gorging himself on cake while holding a pink bear, girls looking on, to a short, calm boy, having polite conversations with the girls by him. Nearly overlooking a piano in the corner, I saw two red haired twins hugging each other, watched on eagerly by a dozens of girls (dozens...how could that many fit in a normal sized music room?). Then my gaze was caught by the boy in glasses, described by the blonde as the 'Cool type'. I met his flashing glasses for a second, before remembering who I was pretending to be and looked down at the floor, almost feeling a smirk appearing on his face.

"So, Princess Varavara, who would you like to see today?" I looked up at his question, startled.

"I think our new customer is a little overwhelmed by all of this." He was smirking.

"I've got an appointment with Haruhi now, along with Idane Shiori . Will it be okay if she comes with me?"

"I don't think Haruhi will mind. Princess Shiori is already with her." Glasses told Rio.

"Then farewell my princess, until we meet again." Blondie bowed, then he and glasses melted away. I didn't regret not learning their names which caused me to now title them with possibly demeaning names (nick names have to be shorter than given names).

Rio dragged me toward the quietest of the hosts. "Aren't they delightful."

"Well...I guess they are handsome."

"Those two are... the twins and Mori too, but Haruhi is cute like a girl. Hunny's cute too."

"Um, okay."

"I'm actually surprised. I didn't figure you would be a girl to be so enamored by them. Me, yes, but not you."

"Rio, you know me. You know my answer to...that idea. I guess that's what you say." I was tempted to rustle through my bag, to withdraw ticket stubs to a certain play, but...

"Ah yes. Varavara, the star of the Dybbuk. As long as its acting, she can do anything. She can fly past the stars. She can-"

"I'm not that good, Rio. But the Dybbuk...that one was fun." I closed my eyes remembering opening night. "But its also when...all this started." On the last night of the performance, we had gotten the first threat. Of course we had gotten threats before, so at first we took it as nothing, but then...

"I'm sorry Varvara." She looked at me.

Then we were at the couches by the host named Haruhi. Two girls got up and left while another, sitting across from him, remained.

"Hello Haruhi, Shiori." Rio waved, then sat down on a couch. I sat beside her.

"Its nice to see you Rio-chan." He directed his light voice toward me, "You're in my homeroom class, aren't you. I'm afraid I don't remember your name. I'm Fujioka Haruhi."

"Demidova Varvara." I looked down.

"Its nice to meet you Vara-chan. May I call you that?"

"Of course." I looked up at her, before returning my gaze to the floor. "Its nice to meet you too."

"Would you ladies like some tea?"

"Yes please." Rio and Shiori chorused.

"And you, Vara-chan? Or would you prefer coffee?"

"Tea's great. Thank you." I said, watching her pour four glasses of tea from a pot on a coffee table before us.

Handing me mine, she said, "Vara-chan?"

"Hm..."

"You don't need to be so shy. I'm sure your a lovely person."

"Ah...Thank you." I had never been someone who cared about...all those 'types', but I could see how she...I mean he, was the Natural Rookie.

Rio whispered, "You should listen to her."

"What if I like doing this?" I whispered back.

Rio opened her mouth to respond, but Haruhi interrupted, "See. You're not shy with her."

Resolutely, I looked down. Suddenly, I found an arm draped around one of my shoulders. I nearly shrieked. Beside me, Rio did shriek, though she stifled it quickly. I turned my head to the side, slowly, to find one of the twins faces. I widened my eyes.

"What do you guys want now?" Haruhi asked.

The other twin had apparently done the same thing to Rio. They both stood up straight. Ignoring Haruhi's question, they said, "How would you ladies like to play the 'Which one is Hikaru game?'"

Rio and Shiori clapped their hands in glee, and, pointing to different twins, they both said, "You're Hikaru!"

The twins crossed their arms smugly, "Nope." Their faces swooped down on me. "What about you?"

Rio, unsurprised by her wrong guess, said, "She can't answer. She still undergoing culture shock."

I grinned to myself. Then prepared to answer their challenge. "Are there three of you then?"

"What?" The twins looked at each other, puzzled.

"If you aren't Hikaru," I pointed at the one on the left, "And you aren't Hikaru, then who is?"

Again, they looked at themselves, then back to me. "What are you talking about?"

I looked at the floor.

"She's right," Haruhi said. "Rio-chan guessed you were Hikaru," she gestured to the one on the left, "and Shiori guessed you were," she pointed to the other.

"Oh." They said.

"Shiori was right. The one on the right is Hikaru. Don't you two have customers to entertain?"

"All our appointments today are done." Hikaru said.

"So we came over here." Kaoru's voice was slightly lighter than his brothers.

"You've got plenty of wanting customers. Go entertain them." She meant the hordes of girls watching them (as well as watching all the other members of the Host Club).

"But..."

"Go!"

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><p>The next day, we went back to the Host Club. Admittedly, Haruhi had piqued my interest, though not in any kind of romantic way, so I didn't complain when Rio took me there. The pirate costumes were off. Today they were just dressed in the boy's normal uniform. The blue jackets looked nice on them, but I guess that most things would.<p>

Haruhi greeted us as he passed by the door, "Hello ladies, I'll be with you soon."

"But you didn't schedule an appointment today?" I said quietly to Rio.

"No, but I'm one of her regulars, so I'm usually with her when I'm here, as long as she doesn't have an appointment."

"Do other boys usually come here?" I asked, pointing to a red haired boy, sitting on couch which was now occupied by Haruhi as well.

"No, not usually." She spoke unenthusiastically.

"Not into yaoi then?"

"Not really, though I don't think it's wrong or anything."

"I did notice that you weren't quite as enamored of the twins as you of the others, though you still liked them."

"Well, each girl has their favorite hosts. I guess a three way would be fine."

I blinked. "Too much information."

"Okay. What boy is here anyway?" I pointed again. Rio turned and her jaw dropped. "That's...That's Ritsu Kasanoda."

"And he is?"

"The heir to the Kasanoda syndicate."

"Oh." My attention was caught by the other members of the club, gathered behind a column. Briefly, I wondered how their customers would let them go so easily, but then I noticed that the girls were all gathered together, watching the two on the couch with interest.

My attention was brought back to the hosts as the twins boosted Blondie into the air. I began to scoot towards the hosts and only vaguely registered Rio's announcement that she was going to got talk to some of the girls.

Blondie began to act like a robot, sitting on the couch alongside Haruhi and Kasanoda. The twins dialed a number on a cell phone, and Blondie answered. I was close enough to catch a few words that they said.

"...two bit thug hit off...spend their life as a mob wife!"

Mob wife. Okay. I had that to my suspicions of Haruhi. Meanwhile, Blondie, recovering from his robot state, stood up and began arguing with Kasanoda.

Whatever Kasanoda said must have really affected Blondie, because he flew into the air, deflating like a balloon. The others gathered around him.

They were still far enough away that I couldn't hear everything they said, though Blondie said daughter and father several times. Then one of the twins began yelling about things changing.

The group was distracted again by Kasanoda and Haruhi. Kasanoda was very attracted by Haruhi and was trying to confess. The whole room held its breath, until Haruhi said, "We're going to be great friends."

Then the whole crowd of girls began to exclaim over his rejection. I could hear them from across the room. Kasanoda said loudly, "Of course we're going to be friends. Best of friends! Forever!"

All the girls as well as the twins and the small, cake eating host, the one I think was Hunny, ran toward Kasanoda, proclaiming their friendship. I would have liked having another friend, though I didn't think that he was handing out friendships to everyone, just that they were so overcome by his reaction. And it was a sweet thing for him to say, but I was too shy to run up. As was my persona I was acting as while in the confines of the Host Club.

It was then that the others noticed me. "Excuse me Miss Demidova, exactly how long have you been standing there." It was Glasses.

I started, blushed, then stuttered, "No...No I just got here with Rio."

"She has found her way to the other girls, however."

"Uh...well." I looked at the ground.

"Kyoya, you're scaring her." That was Blondie. I found my head tilted upward once more. " Don't worry my princess. I will protect you from the evils of this world."

I really wish I could tremble. It was one thing I hadn't gotten right. While I could do it instinctively, it was one thing I couldn't do on command. Still, I turned red, though I didn't look down, for my character was enamored as well as shy, and his face was...intoxicating, though I let my face show fear as well as other mixed emotions.

"Let her go, senpai." Haruhi had arrived.

"But Haruhi, she thinks I'm handsome."

"That doesn't mean you're frightening her."

"I'm not frightening her, am I Kyoya?"

Glasses was Kyoya. "Normally, I would tell you to ask her yourself, but from the look on her face, she probably wouldn't answer. So yes, she certainly looks terrified as well enraptured." Then he said, more softly, "Not that actually means that she is."

Blondie let me go. "Did I scare you?"

I looked down. "I don't even know you're name."

"What!" He jumped back, horrified.

"She's right. Yesterday we didn't introduce ourselves," Kyoya said.

"Well then Princess Varvara, I am Suoh Tamaki, the twins are Hitachin Hikaru and Kaoru, the loli-shota host is Haninozuka Mitsukuni, the one in glasses is Ootori Kyoya, and the other one is Morinozuka Takashi. I think you already know Haruhi."

I nodded shyly. "It's nice to meet you."

"I think our customers are getting a little impatient. We should get back to them." Kyoya said, ending the moment.

"Vara-chan, come with me. Your friend's waiting for us over there." Haruhi pointed to where Rio sat with a couple other girls. We walked there together.

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><p>Not too long after, Tamaki announced they were closing. I stood up with Rio, but felt someone grab my sleeve. "Varvara-san, can you stay back for a minute. I want to ask you something."<p>

My eyes widened, genuinely surprised and curious. Quietly, I agreed. "Give me a moment though." I ran after Rio. Quickly, I explained to her that Haruhi wanted to ask me. Briefly, jealousy flashed through her face, replaced by acceptance and then, sadness. "No, Rio. I don't think he's asking that. And even if he was, I wouldn't be interested. I would never do that to you."

Rio smiled, gratefully. She asked, teasingly, "Have you ever had a boyfriend, Varvara?"

"No." Rio laughed. "Have you?" My question wiped the smile off her face.

She answered sheepishly, "One. For a couple of months. But he didn't kiss me." We both laughed. "We're pathetic, Varvara. You better go talk to Haruhi." She pushed me away. "I'll wait outside the room."

I returned to Haruhi. He pulled me down to the couch, then looked around for the others. I stared at the ground

Quietly, he said, "Um...Varvara...Are you alright?" I looked up into his big brown eyes. "I mean...has anybody been...abusing you or anything. Because you act...scared of all of us." Had I really been overplaying it that much? I didn't think I had been, but maybe...

"No." I shook my head feverently. "Nothing like that. Haruhi..." I looked down and blushed, genuinely again. "Did Ootori-senpai tell you anything about me?"

"You mean that ba-...I mean Kyoya-senpai looked up you too!"

I looked at his face. It was confused now, though he seemed angry at Kyoya. "Well, I guess." I shrugged. "Anyways, Haruhi...I'm an actress."

He blinked. "So?"

I sighed. "I'm actress, so I act. Though I am shy," proving my statement by turning pink yet again, "I'm not like this." I gestured, not at anything in particular.

"So...That means that you aren't so scared or think we're so charming in actuality." I smiled to myself. Clever girl...or boy...or whatever. "Then what do you really think? And what are you really like?"

"I'm not going to answer the first one. As for the second, you'll have to find out." I looked down at the ground. "One other thing. I may not be an expert on Japanese names, or anything...but isn't Haruhi a girl's name."

Haruhi didn't answer. In fact, Kyoya did, "Quite right, Miss Demidova. Haruhi is in fact a girl, not that you can quite tell." Seeing him smirk, I looked at the ground, going back into character. "And don't keep up that routine. I've known your act for some time. Plus, I heard you just now."

Behind me, Haruhi said, more to herself than to Kyoya or I, "I swear he's always there."

I looked up at Kyoya, "Ootori-san, you're not completely right." I bit my tongue, instinctively to keep myself from saying anything further.

"Yes?"

"My act as you put it, was an act, but I am shy."

"I can tell. But be that as it may, as far as Haruhi is concerned, you will tell no one about her." I shivered. The Ootori's reputation was known as far away as my home. "Surprisingly, I don't too much on you right now, but, it won't take long to find something. Besides, there's always my family's private police force."

I stared up at him, a little unimpressed, not that I wanted to blackmailed of course. "You private police force. Well, if that's all, then I'm going to go tell Rio all about it." I stood up. Kyoya stood in my way. "Do you honestly think that I would? Even if we hadn't had this kind chat, I would still think a lot about it. Does she deserve the heartbreaking truth, or would she rather go on with futile hope? I don't know. Perhaps she would be fine being lesbian, though Haruhi might not."

"But as for you're police force...well, that's nothing to what my family's been through. Bye Haruhi, I'll probably see you tomorrow." I left, walking around Kyoya, and I rejoined Rio outside.

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><p><strong>AN:** Okay. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review and tell me if my audience thinks I should continue it, though story alerts and favorites would also get the message across. I hope

the acting versus Varvara being shy wasn't too confusing. I also want to talk about my writing in this compared with my last...but I'm going to wait until you've read enough that you don't mind the author ranting. Also, I don't know what my OC's coupling will be yet, except probably not Hunny or Tamaki or Haruhi, but I'm going to let the dice fall where it will.


	2. Chapter2:Should I give my chapters names

The next morning, I rose at sunrise. Standing on my terrace, I felt the sun scour my bare skin. The light hit my bare arms, my silk babydoll nightgown barely covering my shoulders and reaching only half way down my thighs. I missed the feel of the furs enveloping my body, but for my new home they would be useless most of the time.

My eyes scanned the garden below me, most of the plants unfamiliar to me. Even the idea of such a large garden was strange. I liked the plum blossoms best. Rio told me that in a few weeks, even as the plum trees were losing their blossom, the cherry trees would bloom even more spectacularly, though I didn't see how that was possible.

Examining the exterior of the building, I shivered, for it was February.. Rio's mansion was very luxurious. Certainly more luxurious than my family's mansions at home. They were built for warmth against the snow and cold winds from Siberia.

At least there was snow here. Not much, but maybe later today day I could convince Rio and her little brother, Haru, into a snow fight. Rio had an older brother too, but Yori was graduating from Ouran this year and considered such things like snow ball fights childish. He was becoming a businessman.

Rio's family were the owners of the largest publishing firm in Japan. Rio, a closet, avid book reader, would send me new books that she liked before they were available to the general public. Rio and I had similar tastes in books, which only twined the bond between us closer. We usually liked a blend of drama and adventure,with well written romance included or none at all. We both abhorred poorly written romance than any other genre of fiction.

Rio and I had known each other almost since birth. I was only a week younger than her and first met her when I was a couple of months old. We had flown down from Russia to meet our relatives; Rio was my third cousin. Her great grandfather was my father's grandmother's brother.

I retreated back into my room, softly closing the glass doors to my terrace behind me, and proceeded into the large bathroom, filled with pleasant bath oils. I turned on the hot tap and sat on a demurely colored bergère, fingering the palmette at its top, waiting for the large tub to fill.

I slipped off my nightgown and sunk beneath the scalding water which filled the large bath, sighing. Slowly, I washed myself with the various oils sitting on the bath's ledge, before moving onto my hair. Rio's told me she has a servant wash her hair for her, and until she entered middle school, a servant washed her body as well.

We never had that luxury at home; we didn't have so many servants. Money wouldn't have been a problem, of course, but things were just done differently at home. The constant attention I was given by the servants here unnerved me slightly, especially when I thought of what happened to our servants at home.

I shivered at the idea and hurried to finish my bath.

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><p>A Japanese maid was waiting for me when I got out. "Morning, Varvara-sama."<p>

"Good morning, Hana." Hana had been designated as my personal name. Rio's housekeeper had offered me a whole cadre of personal servants, but I had (shyly) declined the offer. This wasn't the feudal age after all, and I didn't need ladies-in-waiting.

Hana and I had developed a routine. I would wake up, early, and on my own, take a bath, myself, and then she would comb out my hair and dry it. That was certainly an improvement from home. My naturally scraggly, dark blonde hair, which scrambled down past my waist, was always a pain to comb and nearly impossible if it isn't wet, or wasn't combed out when wet. Getting haircuts by the best in the profession did nothing to alleviate my hair problems. But it wasn't actually that bad, or the scraggly appearance wasn't, but for nobles, anything less than perfect was a failure.

I was just happy not to have to comb it out.

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><p>"Why don't you ever talk to us, Varvara-chan?" The twins spoke, loudly, and right beside me, which startled me out of my book. Slowly, I looked up to find them both leaning over me. On que, I blushed and looked down.<p>

"You talk to Haruhi, sometimes. And you talk to Rio-chan all the time. So why don't you ever talk to us."

"Hikaru, you're not...jealous of others. Am I not good enough for you?" This twin's voice, evidently Kaoru's, was higher than the others.

"No, of course not Kaoru. No one's better than you."

I peeked up at them, to see them staring into each other's faces dreamily. The other girls in the room giggled and exclaimed, including Rio, who, despite what she had said the other day, was watching them with rapt attention, a large grin plastered on her face. I would guess that she was thinking about the sexual implications that their words could have. I turned back to my book, not wanting to follow that train of thoughts.

"What are you reading?" I felt my book being tugged out of my hands. I started to try to grab it from the twins, but remember who I was playing. My hands went back to my lap and I fixed my eyes on their feet.

The twin with the deeper voice, Hikaru, unless they traded voices as well as parts in their hair, said, "This looks pretty boring. What is it, a romance novel?"

"N...no. Sorry." I resisted from balling my hands into fists and grabbing back my book, defending it from their criticisms. I did allow myself to look up slowly. I was surprised and a little pleased to see the twins' reaction from my unusual response to Hikaru's words.

Rio, who had suggested the book to me, didn't have my same inhibitions. "Its a wonderful book, Hitachiin-kun. And it isn't a romance novel, though you shouldn't just cast aside a whole genre of literature."

The twins blinked at her reprimand. Rio turned a little red, "Sorry."

They grinned. "That's right, you do a lot of reading, don't you, Rio-chan?"

I watched, curious, as Rio turned redder. She spluttered," Y...yes I do. And what's wrong with that. Sure, its not something I talk about, but..."

"You read a lot, Rio-chan?" Haruhi asked, searching for a fellow book worm like the one she found in me earlier this morning.

"Her family's the owner of the largest publishing firm in Japan," the twins said blatantly.

"Oh," Haruhi said darkly. Then she asked me, "What were you reading, Vara-chan?"

The twin who was holding the book looked down and answered, "Poison by Chris Wooding. Its a Japanese translation of an English book." The speaker was Kaoru.

Poison was a very interesting book, and not at all a Romance novel. "The Japanese translation doesn't do it justice." I blushed at the look of the surprise on the twins' faces when they heard me speak so...boldly. I had surprised myself, and I was chiding myself for slipping so much out of character.

Hikaru, for I had identified the one on my left as the one with the deeper voice, leaned over me. "Yes? Do continue."

I looked down, fluttering my eyelashes, and answered in a quivery voice, "Ah...well, y-you see, um. The English author, w-well, the way he wrote had a...a certain...feel about it, w-which is l-lost in the Japanese translation." Silence descended upon our small group. Quietly, I asked, "May I have my book back please?"

Hikaru crossed his arms, "What if I want to read it?"

Instantly, my eyes were on the floor. "Well...I guess that's fine."

A second later, Kaoru said, "But Hikaru, I want your attention on me, not a book."

"Oh, Kaoru, my attention is always on you." I heard the fan girls sigh again.

"Hikaru..." I heard a small thump and my fingers traced my book returned to my desk. I looked up swiftly, but the twin gave no sign that he was even aware that he no longer had the book in his possession. I grabbed the book and stuffed it back in my bag, before squirming as far away as I could get from the display of brotherly love on my desk.

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><p>"May I join you two?" I looked up from my bento, twirling my chopsticks aimlessly, to see Haruhi standing on the other side of a table from me and Rio. We hadn't had much Japanese cuisine at home, and my chopstick skills still needed to be refined. A lot. I was glad that Rio's chef packed things that didn't require too much skill to eat with chopsticks.<p>

I had relaxed around Haruhi, or more than I did in front of the other people at Ouran, excluding Rio. Perhaps it was because both Haruhi and I knew she was a girl. "But then they'll come-" I began to gesture toward the twins, standing in line to get food in the cafeteria, but Rio interrupted me, with her voice and elbow.

"Of course, Haruhi-kun," Rio said, brightly.

I winced, wishing I could tell her, for before I hadn't ever kept big secrets from her. I bit my bottom lip. No that wasn't true...I had told pretty much everything until the whole mess at home started.

"Vara-chan, are you alright?" Haruhi asked. I blinked. Several times.

"Yeah, Varvara, you don't look so good." Rio my face until it faced hers. "You're eyes are really red. Do you think you have pink eye?" She put her hand on my forehead. "Well, you don't have a fever. I guess you haven't been getting enough sleep. You need to sleep later." She turned to Haruhi. "She gets up early every morning to watch the sunrise."

"I did that at home too. It's not my fault the sun rises here so much earlier." I defended myself.

"Japan is the land of the Rising Sun. Besides, its further south than Russia, so of course the sun rises earlier." Hikaru said. Both he and Kaoru sat down on either side of Haruhi.

I looked away and blushed. Rio said, "She knows that, Hitachiin-kun."

"Then let her tell him herself." I turned in my chair, quickly, to find Kyoya standing behind me and smirking. Tamaki ran up next to him, panting.

"Haruhi!" He ran around to the other side of the table and attempted to push the twins out of their chairs. "Why are those jerks sitting next to your Haruhi?"

"...Sempai"

"Aww. You're so cute."

I watched as Tamaki hugged Haruhi tightly, her face slowly turning purple, a vein on her forehead nearly popping. Kyoya sat next to me. "I thought second year had lunch at a different time."I said to him.

He shrugged, unhelpfully. "Dropping your facade with me, _princess._" His voice dripped with sarcasm.

My cheeks heated up. Quietly, I retorted, wondering if he would hear me, "Like you aren't, Ootori-san." Or at least, he wasn't presenting the same facade he did in front of the girls during the host club. I doubted that anyone knew the real Ootori Kyoya. He was an Ootori after all, and the Ootori's were known everywhere for merciless and brilliant political moves. Haruhi probably came closer than most though, or would, in time.

I turned my attention away from Kyoya. Tamaki was now sitting on one side of Haruhi, who was across from Rio. The twin I had identified as Hikaru was across from me and on the other side of Haruhi. Kaoru was another chair over and across from Kyoya, looking slightly put out.

Fangirls were gather around us. They were an ever present aura over the host club, looming over, watching, even when they were dozens of feet away. It would seem that I would have to get used to them, especially as Rio seemed to be one of them. She was getting a little flustered with the majority of the host club surrounding her (and me).

Haruhi repeated the question I had asked Kyoya earlier, to the whole table this time. "Doesn't second year have lunch later in the day?"

"Sensei dismissed us early. We took our exams in Geography yesterday, so we have today off," Tamaki said, dismissively.

Haruhi spluttered, "But...our teachers have only begun to mention exams, let alone assign a date."

Kyoya smirked, "Toyota-sensei likes to give her exams without notice, to test to see if we've been studying."

"I'm glad I'm not taking geography then." Rio said.

"You're not taking geography?" I asked, my eyes wide.

"You'll do fine, Varvara. You're good at geography. And I'm sure her exam won't count seeing as you've only been here a few days and haven't even had her class yet."

"So you're in classes without Rio?" The twins asked.

I nodded, eyes on my food.

"Several actually." Rio grinned. "I'm not that interested in theater and my English is perfect, so I don't take those classes. I wish I could get out of literature too, but that's required for first years."

"We're in theater." Kaoru said. I looked up at their large, evil grins.

"And Haruhi isn't." Hikaru said.

It was inevitable that I would be in one class just with them. I wasn't sure to be glad or upset that that class was theater.

"I'm sure that Vara-chan is a much better actress than you two jerks." Tamaki declared, giving them the best evil eye he could pull off, which wouldn't have made a rabbit blink.

I blushed, fluttering my eyes and looking down, and said softly, "Thank you?"

"Kyoya does that better than you." The twins retorted. Kyoya cleared his throat menacingly. The twins winced. "Err...Besides we're not girls boss, of course she's a better actress. But if we were..."

"She'd still be better than you," Rio said, triumphantly slamming the flier for the Dybbuk down on the table.

Peering at it, I asked, forgetting myself, "Where did you get that? I didn't give that to you."

"No, but my older brother did. My parents made him fly to Russia to see it. They felt bad because we had never seen any of your plays."

My voice rose, "Then why didn't he tell my family he was-" I remembered where I was and who my company was. I looked down at my food, picking at it, my cheeks redder than they had ever been, my blush completely genuine. I finished, softly, "there..." I envisioned Kyoya smirking in a...an Ootori way and the twins smirking in their 'you just slipped up' way, and Tamaki was probably dumbfounded. Not that I'd look up to see if I was right. As an after thought, I figured that Haruhi was probably glad I was showing more of my natural self to others.

Hikaru began "The Dybbuk..."

"Doesn't look to bad," Kaoru followed.

They finished together, "Or at least according to the flier."

"I've got it!" Tamaki's voice was loud and triumphant. I looked up to see him proclaim, "We, the host club, will sponsor a performance of this play. Haruhi and I will be the most romantic interests, while Varvara-chan will play...whoever she played before."

"Boss, this play doesn't exactly have the normal romantic couple." The twins spoke up.

"And haven't you already found out that I have no skill for theater," Haruhi said.

Kyoya, agreeing with the twins, said, "They're right Tamaki. The lead character, Leah'le, gets possessed by the spirit of a dead man who wished to marry her, but her father wants her to marry someone else. And before you go thinking this some sort Romeo and Juliet story, you should probably read the flier."

Haruhi pulled Tamaki into a hushed conversation. When they finished, he stood up and announced to the whole cafeteria, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to inform you that the Host Club will be sponsoring a play for the end of this school year. We would like your suggestions for what play we should put on. So please feel welcomed to suggest any play to any of our members."

The girls in the crowd cheered. I wondered how on earth he was going to prepare a performance with only a month. I voiced my opinion.

"But Varvara, the Host club can do anything; that won't be any problem for them." And as stars flew in her eyes, I knew I had lost her.

"Rio-chan is right! The Host club can do anything! Nothing is impossible for us!" Tamaki said, grandly, and continued to voice his admiration for the club. I blinked at him.

"Rio-chan is more correct than you know." Kyoya's voice brought me out of my confounded daze. I promptly looked down once more. "Against impossible odds, we do seem to accomplish... miracles. Though, if we couldn't, what kind of Host club would we be."

I said, disguising my words with a hacking cough, "A realistic one."

"You okay?" Kaoru asked.

A blushed. "W-what?"

"That was big cough."

I nodded. "I'm...fine."

"It's time for our next class." Haruhi said, standing up. The twins followed her.

"Aren't you coming?" They asked, grinning. "The next class is geography."

"Sorry." Rio looked up at me as I stood. Her apologetic face was genuine, but I knew that she would thoroughly enjoy...this.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hope you enjoyed this. Hope you enjoyed Rio. I didn't mean for her to play such a large role, but... Hope you enjoyed having to look up a fancy term for a chair. Well, she is nobility after all. Hope it was easier to tell when she was acting, or not, though the two sort of flow together (i got really tired of saying she looked down...can't wait until she can act a little more natural around the club). Hope no one was out of OOC. I think I've decided the pairing, but...

Question: Is it, when in the middle of sentences, "Host Club", "host club", or "Host club"?

Please review. Or at least read the next chapter (whenever it comes).


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